Pirates Make Name as Giant-Killers

Turner Ward. Rich Loiselle. Kevin Polcovich. These are only a few of the no-name Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that National League leaders like the San Francisco Giants don’t seem particularly eager to play right now.

Ward, one of Pittsburgh’s many pickups from other organizations, doubled twice, singled and drove in two runs and the Pirates kept the races close in two divisions by defeating the Giants, 6-4, Saturday night at Pittsburgh for their fifth victory in six games.

The loss dropped the Giants into a first-place tie with the Dodgers in the NL West. The Giants have had at least a share of the division lead for the last 104 days despite losing five of their last six to Pittsburgh.

“We’re concerned right now about the Giants--and the Pirates,” San Francisco’s Darryl Hamilton said. “We don’t play the Dodgers until mid-September, and we can’t be concerned about them until then.”

Giant Manager Dusty Baker kept the clubhouse closed for an unusually long time, then complained about a lack of timely hitting before cutting short his postgame interview.

“I don’t know what . . . we’re thinking about,” Baker said after the Giants stranded runners at third in three innings. “We’re not getting hits. We’re getting a lot of called third strikes. Nobody’s giving us anything, and we’re not taking what they give us.”

The Pirates have won eight of 11 to cut Houston’s lead in the NL Central to three games.

Esteban Loaiza (10-8) shrugged off a shaky first inning and solo homers by Brian Johnson and Jeff Kent to pitch six innings for his third victory in four decisions.

Loaiza has not lost since throwing three shutout innings in a victory over Florida on Aug. 7, a day after failing to get an out in a 12-3 loss to the Marlins.

Loiselle ended the game by striking out Barry Bonds with two runners on base for his 23rd save, tying him with the Twins’ Doug Corbett (1980) for the third most in major league history by a rookie.

“Of all the hitters in the league, he’s the last guy you want to see up there in that situation,” Pirate Manager Gene Lamont said. “But nothing seems to rattle him [Loiselle] too much.”

Bonds has reached base five times in the series, but has made the final out of an inning five times--twice in Friday’s 3-2 loss by being thrown out on the bases.

The Pirates actually left more runners in scoring position than the Giants, 7-4, but got RBI hits from Polcovich and Dale Sveum in the third and fourth innings.

NEXT SERIES FOR DODGERS

WHO:

Pittsburgh Pirates

WHERE:

at Pittsburgh

WHEN:

Monday (DH), 2, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.